1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which is adapted to image a three-dimensional region of a subject under examination.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art of that type of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, three-dimensional information on living biological tissues is obtained by electronically or mechanically scanning a three-dimensional region of a subject under examination using focused ultrasonic beams, and that information is then subjected to three-dimensional processing, thereby producing and displaying a three-dimensional image such as a surface image.
However, with such a conventional apparatus, it takes long time to scan a three-dimensional region, and the amount of data to be handled is several tens to several hundreds of times larger than the amount of data required for a single tomography image (two dimensional image). This will result in loss of real-time processing capabilities. Keeping the real-time processing capabilities would require a large-scale signal processor.